Mikhail Lozinskii’s translation of Dante’s Divina commedia, produced during the years 1939–1945, has acquired legendary status in Russian culture and is still regarded as the canonical Russian version of the work.  This chapter provides a broad contextualization of the translation in order to pinpoint important factors contributing to its status in general and its significance for contemporary readerships in particular. Drawing on two cultural myths — the myth of the Soviet translator and the Dante myth in Russian culture, the chapter explores the relationship between translation and target culture specific to the conditions of Soviet communism, under which translation at times took on the function of substitute for original writing.